Author's Note: This story takes place at the end of episode 90 of Pokémon: Journeys. This is the episode where Alternate World Team Rocket traps Dialga and Palkia under the Red Chain. At the end of the episode, Alternate World Team Rocket is defeated, and everyone safely returns home. However, this story makes one major change: Ash and his Pokémon don't get sent back to their world. They are sent to another world: a world where they don't exist and where Team Rainbow Rocket rules.
The story will alternate between Ash's perspectives in the other world and Ash's friends in the regular world who are trying to figure out what happens to Ash. Perspectives from Team Rainbow Rocket will also be included.
I hope you enjoy this story.
Canalave Library
Canalave City, Sinnoh
Team Rainbow Rocket World
"Alright! We did it everyone!" Ash exclaimed as he raised his right fist in the air and stepped out of the Gate. He and his friends had just defeated Alternate World Team Rocket and stopped the crisis in Sinnoh that caused everyone's Pokémon to be mysteriously taken away by people from another world.
"Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu happily exclaimed as he sat on his trainer's shoulder. He was so glad to be a Pikachu again after being reverted back to a Pokémon egg.
"Gen! Gengar!" Gengar mischievously laughed as he soared around in the air and stuck out his tongue. He was also happy to be a Gengar again.
"Dragonite," Dragonite added, agreeing with Pikachu's and Gengar's exclamations. She was worried that she would lose her wings and that she had to evolve back into a Dragonite again after being devolved into an egg. Thankfully, everything was fixed in the end by Dialga.
After calming down, Ash stomach started to rumble. It took a lot of energy to save the world, so Ash began to say, "That was quite an adventure, everyone! What do you say that we…" But he stopped when he realized that he was talking to no one except his Pokémon. The raven-haired trainer and his Pokémon were the only ones outside of Canalave Library as far as he could see.
"Dawn? Goh? Chloe?" Ash yelled, cupping his hands over his mouth looking around for any of his friends. A worried expression formed on his face when he didn't hear a response. Even Cynthia, the Sinnoh Champion, was nowhere to be found nearby. The Gate had already closed, so they couldn't be back in Dialga's and Palkia's dimension. Panicking, Ash looked up toward the two Pokémon in the air and questioned, "Gengar! Dragonite! Do you see anyone?"
"Gen," Gengar sadly replied with a frown. As far as he could see, his trainer was the only one outside. Dragonite simply shook her head at the question. She too saw no one else.
A sense of resignation passed through Ash at their answers. If his friends weren't nearby, then there was no point of looking outside for the time being. "Thank you," he said, reaching for Gengar's and Dragonite's Pokéballs. "Both of you should return for now." The two Pokémon disappeared in a flash of red light, leaving him and Pikachu alone.
"Pika…," Pikachu moaned in a discouraged manner. He wasn't happy about their situation.
"Don't worry, buddy!" Ash optimistically exclaimed, trying to comfort the yellow rodent. "Maybe everyone's inside?" He suggested while glancing at the library's double right in front of him. There was nothing strange about the doors, and everything else around him looked normal. There were flowers growing outside of the library, and there was no aurora in the sky. "This is a good sign," Ash pondered after he finished observing his surroundings. "This means that I must be in my world." Feeling reassured by his thoughts, he stepped toward the entrance and swung open the doors.
Ash expected the library to be full of people, but he was surprised by what he saw. There was no one in the library except for a bored clerk sitting behind the front desk reading today's newspaper. Upon hearing the doors open, the clerk took his eyes off the newspaper and looked at the newcomer.
"What brings you here?" the clerk asked in a disinterested tone with a yawn. As Ash approached the man, he recognized the clerk since it was the same clerk he saw when he visited the library with Chloe.
"That's a good sign!" he happily thought to himself, but the fact that there was no one else slightly disturbed him. Brushing this aside, Ash cleared his throat and responded, "I'm looking for some friends of mine. Two girls and one boy. One of the girls has dark blue hair, and she wears a white hat with a pink Pokéball logo. The other girl has maroon and braided hair, and the boy has black hair with a little bit of red. Have you seen any of them?"
The man sighed and reached for his newspaper when he heard that the boy in front of him wasn't looking for a book. "I don't know," he stated indifferently. "I don't remember what people came here. Why don't you just ask headquarters instead? They'll know where your group is."
Ash was about to tell the man that he got the wrong idea and that he didn't know anything about a headquarter, but the headline on the back of the newspaper caught his attention:
AETHER PARADISE DATA STOLEN! IS TEAM SKULL RESPONSIBLE?
"Wait! What?" Ash's mind became filled with a swarm of questions. "Why would Team Skull steal data from the Aether Paradise? What's Guzma doing!?" Before he could ask any of these questions to the man, the library doors opened once more, and a figure stepped into the library, catching both Ash's and the clerk's attention.
"Oh, look." the clerk halfheartedly said before going back to his newspaper. "He should know where your group is. Why don't you ask him?" But Ash didn't hear any of the words. He was still recovering from his shock when he saw the figure walk toward him. It was Gary! However, Gary looked entirely different last time Ash saw him. Gary was dressed completely in black, and the only spot of color on him was an insignia in the top left corner of his shirt: a rainbow-colored R.
Despite the strange attire, Ash was happy to see his first rival again, so it was a greater surprise to him when Gary walked past him and showed the clerk an ID card. He didn't even look at Ash!
"Pika?" Pikachu questioned, sharing the same confusion as his trainer.
Ash only caught a glimpse of the card, but he saw a rainbow-colored R on it. "Okay," Ash contemplated when he saw the connection between the card and the shirt. "Something strange is definitely going on. Gary is a member of Project Mew, but I don't think members are required to wear an R. Speaking of R, where have I seen an R before?"
The clerk responded, "Hmm," seemingly satisfied with the card, and gestured Gary to continue moving. Ash was still deep in thought while Gary headed toward the library's stairs. He couldn't stop thinking about the R. The weird part wasn't the letter. It was the color. It felt wrong.
"Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu suddenly yelled, jumping off Ash's shoulder and running in front of Gary. The commotion snapped Ash back to reality, and he soon found himself to be a target of Gary's gaze.
""Hey, you there! Care to teach your Pikachu, some manners?" Gary snarkily proclaimed, tilting his head toward Ash's Pikachu and impatiently tapping his foot on the ground. "Unlike you losers, I have an important errand to run!"
"Uh…," Ash began to speak. He wasn't sure what to say since Gary didn't seem to recognize him, but he decided to take an honest approach. Nervously, he continued talking, "Gary? Do you remember me? It's me, Ash!"
Hearing his name, the brown hair trainer perked up and laughed, immediately focusing on himself and ignoring the rest of Ash's words. He ran his hand through his hair and chuckled, "Well, well. Looks like I'm so famous that even a lowly grunt knows my name! I can't wait to tell Trip this. This'll prove that I'm the better agent once and for all in the Red Mandibuzz!"
"Chu…," Pikachu tensely responded with a concerned voice as the Pokémon slowly made his way back to his trainer.
Meanwhile, Ash became even more perplexed by Gary's words and stumbled backwards. "Me, a lowly grunt? Gary, an agent? Red Mandibuzz? This.. this is all different and wrong!" Ash speculated as he continued to slowly move away from Gary. Then, an idea popped into his head, and he finally understood what was happening. "I'm not in my world! I'm in another one. This is not the same as the Alternate World! I must have gone through the wrong Gate!"
"What's the matter?" Gary taunted as his eyebrows furrowed with suspicion. "You're acting awfully strange. First, you admire me. Then, you fear me. Is a scaredy-cat like you really a member of Team Rainbow Rocket?"
"Pika!" Pikachu angrily growled as electricity danced across his cheeks. Tension was building in the air, and Ash saw that Gary was reaching for a Pokéball on his belt. "Be ready to battle, Pikachu," Ash thought, wondering what Pokémon Gary had in the ball.
"Now that I think about it," a voice gently interrupted, causing both trainers to pause their advances and look at the clerk. "You didn't show me your ID card, boy. I just assumed you were a part of the team since Canalave Library is only accessible to Team Rainbow Rocket members."
"That settles it!" Gary snarled, tossing the Pokéball. "You're a spy! I bet you are part of The Resistance and that you helped Team Skull steal the data from our main headquarters! Electrive, come on out!"
There was a flash of red light, and an Electrivire appeared. "Electivire!" Electrivire menacingly roared while the Pokémon glared at Ash's Pikachu.
"Wait!" the clerk yelled, attempting to diffuse the situation. "You can't battle here! This is a library, and there are valuable books!" However, no one seemed to listen as the trainers began to command their Pokémon.
"Thunder punch!"
"Pikachu, dodge it quick!"
"Elec!" Electrivire roared as electricity formed on one of his hands and lunged toward Pikachu. The yellow rodent was ready, and he let out a cry of "Pika" as he successfully avoided the attack.
"Good job, Pikachu! Now, let's make out move! Quick Attack!" Ash ordered as he pointed toward Electrivire.
Pikachu became enveloped in a stream of white light and charged toward Electrivire. Both Pokémon collided, sending Electrivire tumbling toward a bookshelf behind him. Nobody heard the clerk's cries as the bookshelf crashed into the wall.
"Your Pikachu is fast," Gary admitted as he looked at the damage dealt to his Electrivire. "But it isn't enough to stop us. Thunder!"
Electrivire shot out a yellow beam of electricity, directly striking Pikachu. Pikachu winced in pain and was thrown to a stack of books. Ash remembered that Pikachu was still tired from dealing with Alternate World Team Rocket, meaning that he can't push the Pokémon too hard.
"This isn't going well," Ash pondered as he looked at the two Pokémon. "We have to be careful of Electrivire's Motor Drive. We need to make a run for it!" "Pikachu!" Ash shouted while pointing at two bookshelves. "Use Electroweb!"
"Giving up already?" Gary cockily announced with a smirk, expecting the Electroweb to hit his Pokémon. "Electrivire, stand there and wait."
Understanding what his trainer wanted, Pikachu nodded and sent out an Electroweb toward the shelves. The web sticked between the bookshelves, forming an electric barrier between Ash and Gary. The latter was no longer smiling.
"Quick! Break through it with Iron Tail"
"Use Electroweb again and again! Keep going!"
More and more webs separated the two trainers, and it was so thick that Ash could barely see Gary. "Now's our chance! Let's go!" Ash hollered as he and Pikachu charged toward the library's doors and slammed them open.
"Argh! They're getting away, Electrivire!" Gary screamed with frustration. Catching the spy and his Pikachu was perhaps his own chance of being promoted to a commander, and he wasn't about to lose this rare opportunity. "Faster!"
Electrivire's tails glowed silver and repeatedly struck the Electrowebs, slowly weakening each one, until the Pokémon broke through it. It was a long process to break all of webs, so it was too late for Gary when he got out. "That was no ordinary trainer," Gary thought as he looked around outside. "The Pikachu is clearly well-trained, and Electroweb was stronger than I expected." Despite his valiant attempt to bring the trainer and Pikachu to justice, he knew that he was in big trouble for damaging the library's interior.
"I think we lost them, Pikachu," Ash finally said as he collapsed onto the floor
"Pika," Pikachu added while panting. He was happy that he could finally rest after running.
The duo was currently hiding amongst the luggage on the docks in Canalave City. Various boats were in the harbor, making it the perfect place to cover them and to find a source of transportation.
"It looks like Team Rainbow Rocket has control of the city," Ash mused out loud, thinking back what just happened. "That would explain the rainbow-colored R, but I wonder what's the difference between Team Rainbow Rocket and Team Rocket.
"Pika! Pika!" Pikachu added, forming a rectangular shape with his two arms.
Ash's eyes lit up when he recognized what Pikachu was referring to. "You're right, buddy! The newspaper! Gary said something about the Aether Paradise being the main HQ and that I was part of the Resistance, whatever that means."
Pikachu nodded, agreeing with his trainer. That figured out the mystery of why their friends were not here, but they were still stuck in the wrong world with no way of going back.
"Man, I'm so exhausted," Ash sighed as he lied down on the floor. "I hope Dawn, Goh, and Chloe are alright. They must be really worried. We also need to find a way to get back. For now, we should probably get as far away as possible from Canalave."
Immediately after Ash spoke, the sound of a ship's horn was heard, and a nearby speaker on a ship made an announcement:
"The ship will be departing for Iron Island in a couple of minutes. Please board now to leave."
Listening carefully, a grin formed on Ash's face as he recalled what Iron Island was like. When he was traveling in Sinnoh, he visited the island before and remembered that it was secluded and isolated. It was a perfect location to lay low. "Buddy," Ash hastily suggested while looking at the ship. "Let's go to Iron Island! I have some money in my backpack, and I think it's enough to buy a ticket!"
"Pikachu," Pikachu agreed. They needed to disappear from the radar if they want to hide from Team Rainbow Rocket. This decision was a very important one, and both trainer and Pokémon knew it. However, the intensity of the situation was ruined by the grumbling of Ash's stomach.
"I can't wait to eat," Ash groaned as he clutched his hands over his stomach.
"Chu," Pikachu cried out in agreement. He too was starving. He hoped there was lots of food on the ship.
A couple of hours later…
Galactic Veilstone Building
Veilstone City, Sinnoh
Team Rainbow Rocket World
"You better have a good explanation for what you just did in Canalave Library!" Mars shouted at a sulking Gary who was trembling on a chair he was sitting in. "It is the only library in Sinnoh, and it has countless knowledge about powerful Pokémon in the region. There are even books that go far back to describe the Pokémon during the time when Sinnoh was called Hisui!"
Gary winced at the words from his commander. It was embarrassing to be yelled at by her, but the gazes from the rest of the Red Mandibuzz in the meeting room made things worse. The other four members were quiet now; however, Gary knew that they would add their own opinions to the situation after the commander left.
"Com… Commander…" Gary stuttered with a rare moment of fear showing on his face. "I…I…I can a…a…assure you that I had a good reason for calling Electrivire out!"
"For the sake of your life," Mars menacingly stated with a huge scowl across her face. "Let's hope your reason is good enough." Gary gulped and started to tell his story from the start. It was hard to admit that he underestimated the Pikachu, especially with scrutinizing stare of Commander Mars. As soon as Gary was done with his story, droplets of sweat can be seen on his forehead as he waited for the commander to determine his fate.
After what seemed like an eternity, Mars finally spoke, and the scowl on her face transformed into a small frown. "Fortunately," she said patiently. "The damage to the library was on the lower floors where most of the books are insignificant to us, and the trainer you described is interesting. It has been a while since an individual has dared to oppose us, especially a young child like you."
Even though Gary was deeply upset to be called a young child by his superior, he continued to maintain a small smile on his face and slightly nodded to demonstrate his agreement with the commander. He was glad that he wasn't expelled or sentenced to death.
One person who was not happy with the result was the ever-annoying Trip. "That's it!?" Trip bluntly called out, stepping forward to face both Mars and Gary. "You're going to let him go that easily? He made a mistake with his hotheaded actions that could have been a major setback for our organization!"
Trip was about to say more, but Mars abruptly raised her hand, signaling him to stop. He was prone to arguing and criticizing the rest of his team, but he wasn't stupid enough to directly chide the commander. "Thank you for your concern, Trip, but I can promise you that there will be consequences for Gary. Right now, we need him for the ongoing mission," Mars calmly stated, which seemed to appease the blond-haired boy for now. Turning her attention toward Gary, she continued speaking, "There is one more thing I would like to know. What is the name of the trainer with the Pikachu?"
"I don't think he…," Gary responded, but he paused for a second before suddenly standing up. "He did tell me his name! He said that he was Ash!"
"Ash what?" Mars pressed. The more information she had, the easier it would be to capture the boy.
"He didn't say," Gary dejectedly answered with a sullen look on his face. "I only know that he is a trainer called Ash."
With nothing else left to learn, Mars faced the remaining members of Red Mandibuzz and spoke, "Very well then. It'll have to suffice for now. I shall report this information to Unit Porygon. For now, you may all leave. Do not forget about our operation. It will proceed according to schedule. Meeting dismissed."
As soon as Mars walked out of the room, a snicker could be heard from one of the members. "I guess your Electrivire wasn't as strong as I had thought, Gary," a pink haired girl with blue eyes laughed. "It couldn't defeat a measly little Pikachu! If Paul was on our team instead of you, I'm sure today would be different!"
"Be quiet, Georgia!" Gary shot back, refusing to look at the so-called Dragon Buster. "At least, I dealt some damage! Your Beartic is so slow that he wouldn't have hit Pikachu at all!"
"Oh, you dealt some damage all right! Damage to the library, you fool!" Georgia retorted back as she approached the smug trainer. "My Beartic wouldn't have dealt that much damage if I was battling this Ash!"
A loud sigh could be heard from a green-haired boy standing nearby. "Please. You guys can argue later," Hau spoke, raising both of his arms and interrupting the argument between the two. "We still need to prepare for our operation."
"By we, you mean everyone in this room except me," Trip haughtily said with a sly grin while walking away from the group. "I am already done with my preparations. Our operation on Iron Island will be a success, and I will be promoted to commander. I'll see you all later."
"That loudmouth!" Gary angrily snarled, shifting his rage from Georgia to Trip. "I'll teach him a lesson!"
"That'll be hard to do with today's failure," a quiet voice interjected from an indifferent girl who got up to leave. "While you waste your time getting angry with everyone, I think I'll look over our plans again. Just make sure that you don't mess up the operation."
"You said it, sister!" Georgia exclaimed with triumph, obviously happy with the grumble Gary emitted. "I'll go and help you."
Once the girls were out of the room, Hau looked at Gary with pity and said, "There goes Chloe and Georgia. That leaves the two of us left. Don't worry about today, Gary. No one would have expected this Ash to show up and oppose you. I'm sure you'll get another chance."
"Oh! I will!" Gary ominously spoke as he stormed out of the room. "When I will see this Ash again, he'll pay for this humiliation!" Hau groaned when he heard Gary's words. Knowing his teammate, Gary will complain about Ash for the entire operation, and Trip will tell him to shut up. Then, both of them will argue, and Georgia will jump in, trying simultaneously to annoy them.
"It's going to be a long operation," Hau thought before turning off the lights in the meeting room and leaving for his own room. "I hope everything proceeds smoothly on Iron Island."
